Claire's Got a Gun
by Serena Thorn
Summary: Claire had always trusted her hero. Now, to her, he’s a villain like all the rest. Tonight, he’ll pay for turning her into a victim and a new hero will rise. Oneshot


_**Spoilers:** Up to 3x07  
**Disclaimer:** Heroes is not owned by me, but by Tim Kring. I'm simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment._

**A/N:** For those who try to avoid any and all forms of noncon, now would be a good time to stop reading as this fic deals with rape. Now I'm not one to typically write things like this, especially since I don't consider myself a Paire-basher, but I couldn't stop listening to Janie's Got a Gun (long story) and this idea just wouldn't leave me alone. And the next person who decides they have to remind me that Sylar and Claire are uncle/niece (therefore obviously haven't seen 3x11) is being locked in a room with an anatomically incorrect Peter Petrelli who will never stop telling you why he's better than Superman and how Mommy and Daddy always loved Nathan best!

* * *

Claire had known she should have suspected something when Peter finally agreed to train with her.

The last time she had asked he had told her bits of the future he had seen just to get out of it. He had told her how she would become a killer and had even killed him in the future.

For the life of her she couldn't understand why in the world she would. She had always been the cheerleader who needed saving. How could she become a killer? That wasn't her. She was a hero. Just like her favorite uncle.

Then again he had been growing darker himself of late now that she thought of it.

And she was about to realize how she could come to distrust him and even hate him. And want him dead.

"You're home late," her mother called out as she heard the door slam on Claire's way in.

She wanted to run up the stairs to her room, to just shut the door and lock herself away from everything and everyone. Every memory of today, every memory she had of Peter from the day she met him.

He had been so sweet to her, but today. She couldn't understand it. She had liked him. More than any niece should like her uncle. But she had never thought it would go that far.

Yes, she kissed him back when he had brought his lips to hers. Yes, she had liked it. But then things got more intense and she flashed back on the last guy who had tried that.

It was then Claire had wished Peter had killed her too before it had gone further. But no, he had succeeded. He had gotten what he had wanted. What he chose to believe she had still wanted.

"Claire?" she heard her mother's voice from the other side of the door. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just have some homework to finish," she lied, fighting to keep her voice steady through her tears.

"Should I leave your dinner in the oven?" Sandra was worried but knew better than to intrude too much further.

"No, I'm not hungry."

"Alright. I love you, sweetie," was all Sandra said next. She knew something was wrong. Something had to be wrong. Claire rarely tore up the stairs like that without so much as a "hello" or "where's Dad?".

Had it been another fight with Noah? she wondered. Had Sylar found her again? No, that couldn't be it. She and Lyle had found Claire in the living room that day. She hadn't hidden it or lied about it. Now she knew she had cause to worry.

Claire had cried until her tears ran dry, having cried so hard she had even nearly vomited more than once. She still couldn't shake the images, still feeling his hands all over her, remembering the feel of him. Her uncle moving so skillfully within her. She might have enjoyed it if things had been different. If it had still been a year and a half ago. But not now. All she wanted now was to forget.

But still his words came back to her. That she would become a killer. And she knew too well what her father would do if he knew what had happened.

Noah had killed before and wouldn't hesitate to kill again for her. "You'd be amazed what a father would do for his daughter," he had once said. She hadn't been there, but Sandra had told her.

It had been the day she had watched her father die.

So much death had surrounded her in these last two years. Suddenly it all came clear. Yes, Peter had abilities. Even regeneration. Still she remembered the night of Homecoming. More specifically she knew she would never forget it. She watched as he had put himself back together just as she had done for herself a number of times before.

But even she had a weakness. And knew then what his was. All she could do now was wait for the right time to pay him another visit. And then do to him what she had attempted to do to Brody.

"Hello, Peter," Sylar stated when he heard him teleport into his cell a week later. No fear, no surprise, he knew what he had come for. The same thing he always came to him for.

Though this fight was hardly like any other. For one thing Sylar let Peter believe he had the upper hand as he gripped him by the throat.

But only because he was seeing the things playing in his mind. Mostly of the future, watching as Peter gained his power, the sight of his son, the explosion, Claire.

Claire… Sylar focused harder, curious himself to understand how she could become what Peter remembered.

"Get out of my head," Peter growled before snapping the larger man's neck.

Sylar crumpled to the floor, but only for a moment. As his bones began to shift back into place the images filled his mind again. Jumbled at first but as the pain faded and his body returned to normal he could see it. He knew he had hurt Claire himself, but he had never meant to. Peter on the other hand had done worse. Perhaps not in Claire's eyes, though he couldn't be sure which was worse to her or if they were equal. Him equal to Peter? Now he was livid.

"What did you do to her?" he snarled.

"Nothing you wouldn't have," Peter fired. With that he raised a hand to try to cut into Sylar's skull only to have Sylar telekinetically send him across the cell and knock him unconscious.

Luckily for him the security team had seen enough and locked Peter in his own cell within moments. And as if Sylar's day couldn't get any better, Bennet arrived an hour later.

"I know what he did to you," Sylar sighed from the backseat, wanting Claire to finally hear the apology he owed her.

"Shut up," she quietly replied.

Noah was outside, talking to someone on his cell. Neither could tell who but then they weren't really paying much attention.

"I guess it hurts more when it's someone you thought you could trust. All you would have to do is say the word and I could set it right for you."

"Right, because all you do is kill. What's one more? And you'd finally get your wish and finish what you started at Homecoming."

"I never meant to hurt you, Claire."

She remembered her mother asking her if Sylar had raped her. Well, not in those words but she knew that's what she meant. She had felt a sense of relief at being able to answer honestly when she had said no.

"You won't tell him, will you?" her small voice came, fearful he would tell her father.

"It's not my secret to tell."

Sylar knew she would handle it in her own way. He had seen the images when he touched her hand. Of what she wanted to do to Peter, of what he deserved. He knew it was her fight, which also let him know another reason she hadn't told her father.

Noah would have taken matters into his own hands, going off on his own and killing Peter himself. Sylar knew the importance of a kill like that, that after what Peter had taken from Claire it was only right that she take something as meaningful from him.

The most difficult day of Noah's life followed just a week later. Peter Petrelli's body had been found. A single gun shot wound to his forehead.

Ordinarily it would have been just another day for Peter. But his father had taken his powers. He couldn't heal. Though how he had managed to survive that fall Sylar had caused none had known.

Aside from Sylar who couldn't help but smirk at his achievement, that was. It had been Claire's fight, but he had wanted to make it easier for her. He knew she and Elle were on their way to Pinehearst and were coming upon the building just as he sent him through the window, careful to make sure Peter wouldn't die on impact. He couldn't take that from Claire. Not after all he had done to her.

Claire and Elle had both rushed to Peter's side but Elle had darted into Pinehearst moments later. Claire had left with Peter, feeling that her prayers had been answered. She faked sympathy, making sure to not let him get too close to her again.

Then he mentioned that day and he tried to reach for her hand. Then he tried to sit up to pull her to him. It didn't matter how many times she tried to change the subject or get away. More and more the images were coming back and despite his bruised and battered form he didn't seem to have any broken bones. She was afraid of him and all she could see was him trying it again, getting away with it again.

Before she knew it a gun was in her hand. She didn't even remember lifting it from Noah's home office. But she heard the deafening pop as she squeezed the trigger and saw his blood spray over the wall behind him.

The shock of it all was too much for her, but she did find comfort in knowing that he could never hurt her again now. Well, at least not physically.

What made Noah's day worse however was the fact he knew he had to bring in his own daughter. Sylar had been locked up the whole time and Claire had confessed to him.

Of course he had yelled at her for not having come to him first, but all Claire could do was cry.

"This isn't like the last time, Claire! You can't claim this was an accident! And this is the second time this has happened! You were just lucky you didn't kill Brody when you slammed his car into that wall as it is! I can't keep cleaning up your messes, Claire. Not now. Not this time. Peter was powerless when you killed him. Maybe you did it for what you thought was a good reason, but we can't claim self-defense now and there's nothing else I can do."

"What do you mean?" she sobbed.

That time Noah didn't answer in words. He couldn't say them. Instead he led her down the long, grey hall to a cell, unable to even look his daughter in the eye as he closed the door and locked it.

"Claire?" a dark voice asked her from the opposite end of her darkened cell that night.

"Sylar?" she asked, terrified of what he would say and do.

He slowly walked closer to her. "I guess it's safe to assume they know?"

"That I killed Peter?" she asked, fighting her tears again.

"About what he did to you," he clarified, still sauntering closer.

"Only my dad. But there's nothing he can do this time. I'm a killer, just like Peter said I would be," she cried, her tears finally getting the better of her.

"He deserved it, Claire," his words came out harsher than he had intended, but still he knew them to be true.

"What am I supposed to do?" She couldn't believe she was asking Sylar of all people for advice, but then he had been through this before. His own first kill hadn't been completely intentional and he had mostly gotten away with it.

"He took something from you that was never his to take. Not just your body, but your trust. He used that against you and for that he deserved to die."

He was sitting beside her now and for reasons she couldn't fathom, she wasn't afraid of him. She actually felt safe with him here now.

"What happened? When he fell out of the window?" she asked, finally turning slightly to him.

"I knew you were on your way in, I knew what Arthur would do to you so I had to find a distraction. It just happened to work out that it was a trap for Peter."

"You - you pushed him? For me?" She couldn't believe it, but then it did explain how he was still alive after that fall.

"And for myself, yes. Mostly for you, so you could finally take from him what he took from you."

She was sad, thankful, relieved, terrified and still so hurt that all she could do again was cry. Only now she was in Sylar's arms as he comforted her.

He smoothed her curls, telling her that it was alright, that he was there for her and that she had nothing to be sorry for. He continued to hold her even after she had finally cried herself to sleep.

He decided the next day to tell her that she truly had nothing to fear. She wouldn't be locked away forever. After all, he never was. And this time he knew he would be taking her with him.

He was her hero now. Without him Peter would have lived to hurt her again. Now Sylar would be the one to keep her safe. It didn't matter if Noah liked it, he decided. After what he had done for her he knew there would be no one she would trust, or love, more.

Her uncle had betrayed her, her father had locked her away. He was the one who would be there for her until the end of time. Literally.

The End


End file.
